Grad students visit Chicago for structural engineering perspective

10/2/2017 Kristina Shidlauski

Written by Kristina Shidlauski

A group of structural engineering graduate students recently traveled to Chicago for the 6th Annual Chicago Professional Weekend. Organized by the Structural Engineering Graduate Student Organization (SEGSO), the two-day event took place September 22-23, 2017 and gave the students an opportunity to learn about the city from a structural engineering perspective.

As part of the events, a forum was held at the Illini Center which included representatives from some of the leading structural engineering firms of the city, said structural engineering professor Dan Abrams. This panel made short presentations on their projects followed by an open discussion of what students can expect as professional engineers. Most of the members of this panel were University of Illinois alumni, including four CEE at Illinois alumni. Other events included tours of the Loop and engineering firms, a networking dinner, an architectural boat tour of the Chicago River and a trip to the American Institute of Steel Construction. 

“Our annual Professional Weekend in Chicago has been held since 2011 to help introduce our structural engineering graduate students to the profession as well as to the engineering of Chicago,” said Abrams. “Our graduate students benefit from their overnight visit to Chicago by seeing engineering from the perspective of practitioners, as well as by being immersed within the civil and architectural infrastructure of one of America’s most vibrant cities.”

 


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This story was published October 2, 2017.